You know I normally hate this question…because this whole idea about getting into great shape, changing your life, has to do with just about everything in your life (I know, that’s not the answer you really wanted to hear).  So to try to boil it down to 99% this or 20% that sometimes seems pointless to me.

I was thinking about it a little more, and I think that while diet is probably more important, because you can really do so much damage with bad eating habits when compared to the amount of exercise you can do in a single day.  For example, the average person might be able to do about 500 calories worth of exercise each day…but easily eat 1000 or 2000 more calories than they should.  So from a mathematical perspective, diet is most important…because you can’t lose weight if your diet is bad, but you could lose weight if you rarely exercise.  So in the end, a bad diet is far worse than lack of exercise…so if you really want a percentage of importance, do the math.  If your basal metabolic rate is 2000 calories per day, and you eat 2000 calories, then I suppose your exercise is 100% of your weight loss - because you won’t likely lose weight without it!  If on the other hand, you consume 1500 calories, and do 500 calories worth of exercise, it could be 50/50!  But, let’s say you eat 4000 calories, and do 500 calories worth of exercise in a day.  You’re still 1500 calories over your BMR, so…well, I guess that means that neither contributes to your weight loss - BECAUSE YOU WILL GAIN WEIGHT!

Ok, so maybe I didn’t clear things up.

At the end of the day, we must realize the important role each plays in our weight loss and fitness goals.  To try to omit one or the other can be counter productive…especially because it’s pretty common that people who exercise regularly are more careful about what they eat, because they don’t want to be wasting their hard work.  So if a regular exercise plan RESULTS in better eating, then how important is exercise?  Pretty important I’d say!